A roofer working on a fruit packing warehouse in Wapato fell more than 25 feet through an unguarded skylight and died on the concrete floor below. The state has now fined the worker's employer, Union Gap-based Leslie & Campbell Inc., $48,803 (via Washington L&I).
The citation was issued Sept. 8. According to the Department of Labor & Industries, the skylight had no guard, the company hadn't identified the warehouse skylights as a fall hazard, and it didn't adequately train its crew on the danger. Leslie & Campbell is appealing the citation and fine. L&I's release doesn't name the worker or give the date of the fall.
"A worker died because their employer failed to protect them," said Craig Blackwood, assistant director of L&I's Division of Occupational Safety and Health. He added that a penalty can't bring the worker back to their family, but it's meant to make companies follow the rules and prevent the next death.
L&I bundled the Wapato case with a string of other recent roofing citations around the state. The agency says it has fined five construction companies more than $440,000 combined for fall protection violations over the past four months. Here's what it described:
Roof Doctor Inc. of Olympia was fined $238,680 on June 30 for four willful serious and two serious violations after part of a roof collapsed under a worker in Tumwater. He was hospitalized. L&I says the safety line meant to catch him was too long to stop the fall. The agency counts more than 80 safety violations against Roof Doctor and its associated companies since 2004, including 34 for not making sure workers wore fall protection, plus nearly 40 fall-related injury claims. The company is appealing. It's not Roof Doctor's first trip through the news this year: KOMO News reported in January that L&I fined the company $82,620 and $110,160 in December over jobs at an Olympia home and a Tumwater strip mall.
Dabella/Reve Exteriors LLC of Marysville was fined $176,580 on Aug. 19 for two willful serious violations. L&I says it didn't protect its subcontractor's employees from falls or make sure they had the right protective gear, and some of the violations repeated earlier findings. That subcontractor, Suruka House LLC, was fined $34,668 on the same job for repeatedly failing to put workers in fall protection and other required gear, and for not having a fall protection work plan. Dabella/Reve is appealing.
Bartlett Homes & Roofing LLC of Veradale was fined $179,964 on June 3 for willful serious and repeat serious violations. Inspectors found two workers who weren't tied off, roof anchors that were installed wrong, and one worker whose restraint line had so much slack it wouldn't have kept him from hitting the ground. Its subcontractor on that job, Ivan's Roofing Spokane LLC, was fined $37,415 for workers without fall protection, unsafe ladder use, and no first aid on site. Bartlett is appealing.
Every company on that list except Suruka House and Ivan's Roofing is now in L&I's Severe Violator Enforcement Program because of repeated willful fall protection violations. That means mandatory follow-up inspections and closer scrutiny. L&I also shares the program list with federal OSHA and other state plans, so a listed company can get inspected at its jobs in other states. Getting off the list takes at least three years after the final order, with all hazards fixed, all penalties paid and no new related serious citations.
The rule itself isn't complicated. Washington's fall protection standard kicks in at four feet, and it specifically requires employers to guard skylights and skylight holes with standard-strength covers, guardrails, or a personal fall restraint or arrest system (WAC 296-880-20005). Falls were L&I's most-cited serious violation for the 20th straight year, KOMO reported in January. Fine money goes into the state's workers' comp supplemental pension fund, which supports injured workers and families of workers killed on the job.
Why it matters for Contractors
The Wapato case isn't about exotic equipment failure. It's a skylight nobody flagged. If your crews work on commercial, ag or warehouse roofs, walk the roof before work starts, mark every skylight, and get it covered, railed off, or make sure everyone near it is tied off. Put skylights in your written fall plan and talk through them with the crew.
Two other lessons from this batch: check line length and slack, since two cases involved ropes that wouldn't have stopped a fall, and note that Dabella/Reve was cited for failing to protect its subcontractor's workers. If you hire subs, their fall protection can become your citation too.